Geneticists And Economists Clash Over "Genoeconomics" Paper

scibri writes "One side is accused of supporting ethnic cleansing; the other of being intellectually naive. Geneticists and economists are struggling to collaborate on research that explores how our genes influence and interact with economic behavior. Top economists are publishing a paper that claims a country's genetic diversity can predict the success of its economy. To critics, the economists' paper seems to suggest that a country's poverty could be the result of its citizens' genetic make-up, and the paper is attracting charges of genetic determinism, and even racism. But the economists say that they have been misunderstood, and are merely using genetics as a proxy for other factors that can drive an economy, such as history and culture."

Comments

Correlation is not causation

[Hentes]

Maybe it's the other way around, I would say it's more likely that economic success causes immigration, and therefore diversity.

Re:Correlation is not causation

[grcumb]

Sure, but you.still haven't demonstrated whether saying, 'Correlation is not causation' makes you stupid, or being stupid makes you say it. I mean, after all, correlation is not... oh shit.